Feeder for viners



' June1o,l1947. HRTAYLOR 2,421,815

- FEEDER FOR VINERS Filed March 27, 1945 SSheets-Sheet 1 lllllf'll sv sheets-sheet 2 June 10, 1947. H. ..TAYLoR FEEDER FOR VINERS Filed March 27, 1945 wm, mm. mmv hm. .m hm o? J -H HJHLUJMUQn H |H w WM W HH um.; .|l1 t l IE t11 |1 f @p l l l i uur hh. Wm.

'June l0, 1947. H. P. TAYLOR FEEDER FOR VINERS Filed March 27, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented `lune 10, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FEEDER FOR VINERS Henry Portereld Taylor, Walkerton, Va. Application March 27, 1945, Serial No. 585,209

1 Claim. l

This invention is directed toward providing an automatic feeder for viners which are machines now commonly used in the canning industry for handling vines such as green peas and Lima beans and similar vegetables. The present practice is to harvest the vines with the pods in place and the viner separates the peas or beans from the pods and vines.

The vines are usually windrowed and loaded upon wagons or motor trucks in the eld and thence conveyed to the viner which is ordinarily housed in a suitable structure and the vines fed by laborers with pitchforks from the truck to the viner feeder. The usual practice requires two men for this operationone stationed adjacent the viner feeder and the other on the truck passing pitchforks of vines to the rst man. This process is not only expensive in labor costs but is very hard work and requires con stant attention by the laborers involved, as the Vines must be fed to the feeder with regularity to prevent underfeeding, in which case the viner is not utilized to its capacity, or overfeeding, which is usually accompanied by a breakdown of the viner machinery. The present invention proposes to provide an automatic feeder by means of which the Vines are fed into the viner at a uniform rate and contemplates a construction by means of which trucks are released for further `use while their loads are being fed into the viner.

It thus contemplates not only reducing the labor costs of the normal feeding of the vines to the viner but much greater efeiency in the use of .the farm wagons or trucks. The general object of the invention is, as indicated, the provision of an automatic feeder for a viner machine.

The invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combinations of parts hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

Three sheets of drawings accompany this specification as part thereof, in which like reference characters indicate like parts throughout.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved feeder showing a truck backed in position for unloading and with its loading platform just released from the chassis;

Figure 2 is a plan View of the feeder, parts being broken away;

Figure 3 is a front end elevation of the feeder; Figure 4 is a fragmentary detailed illustration of a rake finger as associated with any of the feeding chains; and,

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, V represents the building structure housing the viner machinery. The truck used to convey the vines from the fields to the viner is identiiied by T, and removable loading platform for the truck T is identified by P. This truck platform will be of rectangular shape and may be removably secured to the chassis of the truck T in any known and desirable manner,

The feeder mechanism which constitutes the present invention includes generally a frame,- work supported by vertical pedestals I at a height to locate the feeding chains slightly above the average load of vines carried by a truck. The vertical pedestals I are spaced apart suiiciently to permit a loaded truck T to be backed between such posts to position the load intermediate said posts both longitudinally and transversely and below the vine raking mechanism hereinafter to be described.

This vine raking mechanism is carried by a platform P supported at the tops of the pedestals I upon longitudinal and transverse angle members 2 with such additional bracing members as may be necessary to give suitable rigidity being added to the frame structure.

In viners now on the market, a central heavy shaft extends down the center of the machine and is known as the beater shaft, and such feeding devices as are now known are ordinarily operated by such beater shaft, and this practice is contemplated in connection with the present invention. The viner beater shaft is provided on its end with a lbeveled gear 5 which engages a bevel gear 6 xedly secured to a short shaft 'I suitably journaled on the viner structure housing, the shaft 'l carrying a sprocket 8 connected as by chain Si to a sprocket il! fixed with respect to a shaft il journaled on the vertical pedestals I of the vine feeder and extending transversely of the feeder at its left end. On this shaft II are xedly secured two oppositely disposed beveled gears I2-I2 and a sprocket I3, which sprocket I3 is connected as by a chain I4 with a sprocket l5 secured to a shaft i6 which is also journaled on the viner structure and which carries a plurality of sprockets 6l rigidly secured thereto in spaced relationship adjacent the center of the feeder.

Adjacentveach corner of the feeder framework are positioned chain wheels 31, these Wheels on each side being mounted on longitudinally extending shafts 36 to each of which is secured a beveled gear 35, these beveled gears on opposite sides of the feeder being engaged by beveled gears 34-34 carried on the opposite ends of a transverse shaft 33 carrying a driving gear 32 forming one of a train of gears 21, 28, 29, 30, 3| and 32 for reducing the speed of rotation to be transmitted to the chain Wheels 31. Gear 21 of this chain of gears is mounted on a transverse shaft 26 upon which is also xedly mounted a sprocket for a 4chain drive 25 by means of which power is transmitted from a variable speed control box of suitable and known form herein illustrated representeddiagrammatically ends of `which are adapted .to be removably engaged with the corners of the..loading. platform ....7

The other reduction gears 28,.'29, 30, and

Aroundleach P.. vSuch lchains are held in positiveengagement .-...With the .chainwheel31 as byrollers 39 mounted .on bracketsl) providedwithsleeve portions el .slidable upon theupperends of..vertical;posts 2d fixed to theplatform ..3 adjacent thee. chain .i ..Whejels 31.

' 'lfhev vine. feeding.` mechanism. .proper consists f cfa pluralityof lendlesschains arranged in three groups.. .Two of..- these groups. which are lsubstantially .identical in'number and arrangement are positionedoneachside, the chains 53 ex- .tending infsubstantially .acommon. plane. .trans- ....versely-of theffeederfbeing mounted .onfa plurality of sprockets 52. secured onlongitudinally extending shafts 5l-5I having on their rear ends `beveled-.gear 59-50 adapted to engagebeveled gears 82-12 -secured on 'shaft ll... The outer ends .of the chains are vmounted upon .idling sprockets 5.4...Which are in...turn...mounted vupon By ..reason.ofthisarrangementit. will be observed 1 .that the lower reachesof all fof the .transverse .chains-53 move inwardly .toward the center of theframework, and it wilLfurther be observed ythat the. inner drivingv shafts 5l-5I of these longitudinally extending shafts 54?-562 transverse chains are spaced apart. With'respect V to the longitudinal center of the framework.

...Extending longitudinally of the .framework and between thev inner; ends of the transverse ..-chains 53 are a plurality of longitudinally ex- ...tending endless chains 63 which passat their rear over the sprockets 6l mountedon .shaft l5 `.which, is .mountedon the viner and at their for- Ward endover a plurality of sprockets 60 which 1 are freely rotatable shaft 60.

On each ofthese feeding chains, both longi- ...tudinal and transverse, are secured a suitable l' number .of raking lingers 55 illustrated in detail fin Figuresl` and 5,. each of the fingers 55 being on `a short transverse pivoted with respect to the chains 53 (or 63) as by a. chain pivot 56, and having on its upper enda roller 59. Mounted above the bottom reach of'each of the. feeder chains 53 or 53 isa rake .A linger control strip 51. adapted to .engage the rollers 59 of the rake lingers 55 and thus maintain the rake fingers 55 in' a xed downwardly directed position throughout the extent of such control strips 51. For convenience the forward or approach ends of these fngerstrips will be slightly deflected vas at 58 to assure engagement in Figures 1, 3v and 4.

As herein illustrated'there are four of the longitudinally extending chains 63 and each of these chains is provided with three equally spaced raking fingers 55. Each of the transverse .chains 53 will be provided with two of the raking fingers 55 spaced equally apart on each chain and these raking ngers on the transverse chains are `preferably staggered, the chains 53 on each side being arranged in groups with the fingers on each group of chains similarly positioned, but thefingers asy positioned on oney group staggered with respectto the fingers on the adjacent groups by which means the transverse chains most remote from the viner will first discharge to the z-pcenter and successive groups will successively discharge as the ngers of the longitudinal Bymeans of the variable speed control box 23, the speed of operation of the feeder may be controlled to suit the type and condition of vines being handled and the capacity of the viner. It

will alsopermit the -rapidadjustment of the platform to the feedingV chains .wherey less than 2f-capacityload isloeinghandled.

With the mechanism-as'herein described and -.illustrated the operation Yis briefly asffollows:

The loaded .truck T iis vbacked between the vertical standards I until the load.is.positioned under the raking chains 53 and 63.

The load liftingchains `33 are .then engaged to the v four corners of the. -`load platform P,4 which load platform isreleased from thefchassisof the truck T. Thereupon, clutch. C isthrownfand power .transmittedfrom the viner throughfgear .5 to transmit power to shaft`ll, .from .which shaft it will beV noted,rotation.istransmitted through .gears l2-5IJ to all of the transverse .feeding chains 53, while through sprocket i3, i vchain I4 and sprocket J5, power.. is rtransmitted v.to shaftJG and sprockets 6I to all .of thelongitudinal feeding chains 53. At` the. same-time,

.sprocket 25 mounted on shaft Ilv transmits power through chain V2l, speed control box 23., chain 25 and-reduction gears 21, 1.28, 29, 35, 3l and32 to .-transverseshaft 33 and through beveL gears -34-35 to chain-wheels 31, -thuscommencing the i .lifting of. chains38 and` platform P.

All .of the-gearing will beproportioned suitably to liftY the loaded platformP..progressivelywhile the transversely positionedfeeding.chains53 with their associated-hook fingers will feed the-vines on the platforms from theV outer :longitudinal sides of the load toward thelongitudinalzcenter of the load,..while. at thesametime the longitudinally disposed feed Achains. 5l will operate to en- -gage theflload adjacent the longitudinalrcenter and carry thevsame rearwardly,` depositing same in a conveyor 65 driven by belti from the shaft ll I,whereupon the vines are carried to the viner machine. In this'conncction the lengthfof the hook or rake fingers, lwhich are relatively long will determine the Working space betweenA the conveyor chains and the topsurface of the load, which space must *ber sufficient to permit the bundling'of the vines as-'they advance." d Thus the actual cut .of the fingers into the` load will be sub- `stantially less than thisvvorking space: As .soon

as the` loaded platform P has been liftedsuicientlyto disengagetruck Tit, will beo'bserved that truck T can be lmoved forward andanadditional platform P positioned on its chassis which permits the return of the truck to theiield for another'. load while theloadon the' original platof the rollers. 59 with said strips as 'is illustrated .5 the framework and the driving mechanism will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art but all within the scope of the present invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

Feeding device for viner comprising a rectangular frame, standards supporting the frame so spaced and positioned as to permit a loaded truck to pass under the frame, a platform adapted to form the removable load platform for a truck, a plurality of endless chains arranged in two series, one on each side o-f the frame, all of said chains arranged parallel and in a substantially common plane, the inner ends of the chains of the two series spaced apart from the longitudinal center of the platform, other endless chains operating longitudinally of the platform, between the two series and in substantially the same horizontal plane, teeth spaced and pvoted on all said chains, the chains comprising the two transverse series arranged in similar groups and the teeth of each group of each series staggered with respect to the teeth of the next adjacent group of that series and so positioned with respect to the teeth on the longitudinally extending chains that the teeth on the transverse chains most remote from the viner will reach the center chains as teeth on the latter assume operative raking position and succesasive groups of transverse chains will successively discharge to the center chains as their raking teeth progress toward the viner, means for maintaining the teeth on all of the chains deilected from the bottom reaches of said chains,

rilexible members for elevating the platform from a truck chassis toward the frame, means for operating the chains of the two series to :advance their bottom reaches toward the center, means for operating the longitudinal chains to advance their bottom reaches over one end of the platform and means for operating the flexible platform supporting members to lift in predetermined ratio with the operation of said endlesschains.

HENRY PORTERFIELD TAYLOR.

REFERENCE S CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

